Why are Dutch children the world’s happiest? A teenager weighs in
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As often as shootings are in headlines. Do the vast majority teenagers across the U.S. ever encounter a shooting in their lifetime?
I have a feeling the media might be blowing it out of proportion and any time someone throws a statistic it includes urban areas where gun crimes have always been a daily occurrence.
Or were you just making small talk?
Let me get this straight: your position on this is that the issue is only worth even talking about when on average, each American experiences a shooting at least once? Or are you just making small talk?
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As often as shootings are in headlines. Do the vast majority teenagers across the U.S. ever encounter a shooting in their lifetime?
I have a feeling the media might be blowing it out of proportion and any time someone throws a statistic it includes urban areas where gun crimes have always been a daily occurrence.
Or were you just making small talk?
Shootings happen here way more than they make headlines! The media unreports it. Yes kids are exposed to this, it's fucking real. Where are you getting your "feeling" from? US has a terrible gun violence problem.
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Shootings happen here way more than they make headlines! The media unreports it. Yes kids are exposed to this, it's fucking real. Where are you getting your "feeling" from? US has a terrible gun violence problem.
Yep we have on average 125 shootings that result in fatalities per day and 2 mass shootings.
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So, if both American and Dutch parents value independence, why do Dutch kids seem so much happier? I wonder if the key difference lies in how both sets of parents understand what freedom for kids looks like.
“Dutch parenting is all about raising self-sufficient kids,” Tracy told me. “My older two (ages 12 and 14) bike more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) daily to school since there are no school buses.
“If a teacher cancels a class, students just have free time instead of a substitute. My 14-year-old had two canceled classes this morning and simply stayed home until noon. This would be a logistical nightmare for schools and parents if we didn’t just expect our kids to sort it out.”
Dutch parenting, according to the close to a dozen parents in the Netherlands I spoke with, emphasizes allowing children a freedom of movement that many American kids don’t have. When I was in Haarlem and Amsterdam, bikes and little kids on bikes were everywhere.
Good article. We moved to an open concept neighborhood (low open fences, not “privacy” style) and the kids have a lot of movement around the neighborhood since it’s safe, and it has a lot of trails, wide sidewalks, and bike lanes. Yes, it’s more affluent. They’ve definitely been a lot happier than our last house where privacy fences were everywhere. They made friends a lot faster and seem to know everyone.
Honestly that quote sounds a lot like my childhood in Minnesota in the late 80s and early 90s.
Some of that might be rosy retrospection but I wonder how much this has changed in the US over the years.
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In suburban North America... steps outside you have nothing but roads with cars going 50km/h+, no shops or cafes to walk to because of zoning laws, maybe a small park a 15 minute walk away.
You have to have your parents take you places, you cannot go anywhere alone. In the USA you also have to worry about potential shooters because people play fast and loose with gun laws there.
maybe a small park a 15 minute walk away
This is really dependent on where you live in the US. I just checked and the house I grew up in was within a 15 minute or less walk of 7 parks and 15 minutes isn't really that far to walk. Especially in the US.
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Haha. If you ask Dutch children what they think about something, you'll get brutal honestly on the edge of offending.
When people over do that they're generally called edge-lords. And it's not considered special or good.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on last edited by [email protected]
yeah, this is a direct result of the greatest victory against car culture by Dutch moms in the 70s. Car brain makes you dependent on a whole compact of ideology, industry and city planning that keeps people dependent on cars. You are only a "full human" when you get your driver's licence and can afford fuel (priced according to whatever war is going on in the world at the moment).
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But seriously, wear a helmet. I just saw an elderly dude crash with a young lady, both on bikes, today in Harderwijk. He was bleeding from his head, and he wasn’t even going fast
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I saw a lady carrying 3 kids in a bakfiets...no helmets...because it's that naturally safe. It's like water to a fish...
